Are Louisiana's DWI laws flawed?

Teen's life cut short by drunken driver

May 23, 2009 3:14 AM

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The Times' findings

The Times investigation of DWI arrests and convictions shows:29 percent of drivers arrested and charged with DWI by Shreveport police appear to have avoided prosecution. At least 527 offenders were arrested as repeat DWI offenders. Of those, some 58 had three or more DWI arrests over a span of about six years. Some had as many as three arrests in one year and others had two or more arrests within the same day, week or month. 42 percent of offenders arrested for their third or subsequent DWI got their charges reduced. 93 percent of first- and second-time DWI offenders prosecuted at Shreveport City Court received a suspended jail sentence. Most offenders prosecuted through Caddo District Court got suspended jail or prison sentences.

ABOUT THIS SERIESToday, The Times begins the four-part series Collision Course, looking at local DWI arrests and prosecutions and the impact on local citizens. Upcoming storiesMonday: Prosecutors reveal the responsibilities and challenges of pursuing DWI cases.May 31: The Times rides with a Shreveport police officer as he searches for DWI drivers.June 1: Lawmakers, police officers, prosecutors, advocates and victims identify problems and solutions. In coming weeks, The Times will look at more issues related to DWI. If you have stories you would like to see done, send e-mail to reporter Alison Bath at alisonbath1@gannett.com.

Traffic fatalities

Following data are for Shreveport.2008: 18; five of which were alcohol-related.2009: seven (as of May 6); one of which was alcohol-related.

The 15-year-old would hide behind a door and patiently await his prey. At precisely the right moment, he'd jump out.

"He loved to make you scream — he thought that was hilarious," recalled his mother, Amy Dillard.

Dillard isn't frightened so easily these days.

Three days after Christmas 2007, a four-time convicted DWI driver plowed into the back of the disabled red Mazda sedan her son and two friends were pushing off the road.

The impact catapulted Adam through the windshield and into the passenger seat of the Buick Regal the man was driving. But the driver didn't stop.

Instead, he drove just over a mile, pausing long enough to dump Adam alongside a dark west Shreveport street before continuing home. There, the driver parked the badly damaged car behind the house he shared with his girlfriend, went inside, took off the blood-soaked overalls he was wearing and went to bed.

That's where police found Jimmy Ray White, a 52-year-old felon, reeking of alcohol at nearly 7 a.m. the next morning.

"I am unshakeable," said Dillard of facing the aftermath of the crash. "At this point, I don't flinch."

The Times' study of DWI arrest data over six years reveals 527 of the drivers arrested in Caddo and Bossier parishes during that period had two or more DWI arrests.

Many, such as White, whose last DWI conviction came nearly a year to the day before the crash that claimed Adam's life, often get their charges reduced. Most don't serve jail time and some never are punished despite repeated arrests.

Advocates say those findings reveal flaws in Louisiana DWI laws that allow offenders to repeat, risking the lives of the state's citizens. The result can be measured in the estimated 487 people killed statewide in 2007 in alcohol-related crashes — placing Louisiana seventh in the nation for DWI traffic fatalities, according to a 2008 Mothers Against Drunk Driving report.

"It's something that people look at as being very insignificant, but it significantly changed my family's life," said Dillard of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

White wasn't charged with DWI in Adam's death. The habitual lawbreaker, with arrests spanning nearly four decades, was drunk when he climbed behind the wheel at about 10 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2007, and still was intoxicated when he returned home shortly before midnight, court records show.

Even so, too much time had elapsed between the crash and when White was found for prosecutors to be able to prove he was drunk when driving. Now jailed in Caddo Correctional Center, White awaits a June 2 hearing for manslaughter. If convicted, White would face up to 40 years in prison. His court-appointed attorney declined The Times' request for comment.

"The most serious charge was the charge we charged him with," said Caddo Assistant District Attorney William Edwards. "We have a loss of human life it — it doesn't get more serious than that."

Victim nowhere to be found

Adam wasn't supposed to be out the Friday night he was killed. So a call from his friends telling Dillard of an accident and that Adam was missing sent the mother of two into a frenzy.

She rushed to Linwood Avenue and Corbitt Street where the 10:20 p.m. crash occurred and learned Adam was among the young men who stopped to help a woman motorist. A car traveling at an estimated 70 to 80 mph slammed into the rear end of the woman's vehicle and left the scene, according to police reports.

While police investigated the collision, Adam's friends noticed he was gone but didn't know what happened to him. His shoes were in the street.

Dillard reasoned with herself. Adam, worried about getting in trouble for breaking the rules, probably already was at home or his father's house, she thought.

"I'm calling my house and he's not answering the phone," she said. "I was panicked and I was crying "» and I was praying."

About an hour later, while police searched for Adam, Dillard suddenly became calm.

"I just got this feeling of peace that came over me," she said. "I was not panicked anymore, and I knew everything was going to be OK."

Repeat offender

That December night wasn't White's first brush with the law — or his second, third or fourth. As it turns out, White has a lengthy criminal record including arrests for burglary, armed robbery, sexual assault, drug possession and other crimes committed in Louisiana, Georgia and Florida.

The Shreveport native has four Louisiana convictions for DWI. Two of those involved driving intoxicated with a child under the age of 12 in the car. White's blood alcohol level was .132 percent for his first DWI offense; state law dictates a driver legally is impaired when his or her blood alcohol reaches .08 percent or higher by weight based on grams of alcohol per 100 cubic centimeters of blood.

In April 2006, White was arrested and charged with felony DWI, which carried a sentence of as many as five years in prison. But his court-appointed attorney successfully sought to have a previous DWI conviction quashed. As a result, White pleaded guilty to DWI 2nd and was sentenced to the maximum jail time — six months — allowed by law and given credit for time served.

Twenty-two days before police say White hit and killed Adam, he was arrested for driving with a suspended license.

The Times' study of Caddo district attorney DWI conviction data from Jan. 1, 2003, through March 2009 shows 42 percent of offenders arrested and charged with their third or subsequent DWI were convicted of a lesser charge. Sixty-two percent of offenders charged with DWI/child endangerment also got their charges reduced, district attorney records show.

A variety of circumstances — including offenders who refuse to take field sobriety tests, trouble verifying an offender's out-of-state or out-of-parish convictions, arrests that weren't prosecuted or establishing an offender's identity — can result in charges being reduced or dropped, prosecutors say.

"Our office policy is we don't reduce DWIs except for exceptional reasons, such as there is an issue with a prior conviction," said Edwards, who insisted those exceptions were rare. "That's how the law operates — that's the law and the Constitution and we follow its guidelines."

Devastating news

At the crash site, Dillard noticed some police officers leaving. She asked one she knew what was happening. The officer, surprised to see Dillard, asked her to wait in his car.

"He came and told me: 'I just want you to remember your son was trying to help somebody tonight,'" Dillard said. "He told me (Adam) was found and he was dead. It was so hard for me to comprehend — I kept thinking, how could that be?"

Adam was discovered just before midnight — nearly two hours after the wreck — at Claiborne Avenue and Dowdell Street by two men walking to a nearby convenience store. His body was warm, but he wasn't breathing.

Police told Dillard her son likely died instantly, but she later learned through a coroner's report that he lived for at least an hour after the crash.

With that news, Dillard understood the sudden feeling of serenity she experienced earlier that evening.

"I believe that (feeling) was Adam when he died telling me: 'I'm going to heaven and everything is OK Mama,'" she said. "The only thing that makes this remotely bearable is I know my son is in heaven, and he's in a better place."

Tip leads sleeping suspect

Police found White after a friend of his girlfriend saw TV news reports about a hit-and-run accident. She suspected White was involved. The night before, he came home and told the women he had an accident and, as a result, a pole went through the windshield.

Suspicious, the friend went and looked at the car. Upon seeing a large amount of blood in the front passenger seat, she called police. Officers found the gold and black sedan behind a Fuller Street home with heavy damage to the right front end and windshield, and blood not only on the front seat but also on the passenger door.

"The windshield looks like someone went through the windshield from the outside in," the police report stated.

Police reports show White complained after his arrest that "he knew nothing about the fatal hit and run, and that he never drove nor owned a car to drive." He also told investigators, who noted White strongly smelled of alcohol and accordingly did not question him immediately, that "I was not driving that car" and "I don't know who was driving," court records reveal.

A life cut short

It's been nearly 17 months since Adam was killed. He would have celebrated his 17th birthday this month.

"He didn't get to go to the prom, graduate from high school, fall in love and give me grandchildren," Dillard said. "It's not fair — all these things he should have experienced he didn't get to."

She still attends grief counseling. Adam's brother, William Klingensmith, stopped going to the sessions — he moved to Lafayette and is enrolled in college.

Dillard fondly remembers a son who had a big heart, would offer unhesitatingly to help others and had a soft spot for "little old ladies" who needed a sympathetic ear. She recalls how he loved practical jokes and would often spend all his money on candy in an effort to satisfy a persistent sweet tooth. Even the once Herculean effort to get a "grumpy" Adam out of bed on school days brings a smile to her face.

"He is missed so much," she said.

Dillard also draws comfort in the outpouring from the community and First Baptist Church of Shreveport members. Through their stories about her son, Dillard learned how Adam impacted their lives in sometimes simple, sometimes profound ways.

"I know he loved me. He knows I love him," she said. "What I wish I could have done more is tell him how proud I was of him."